B1.1a Characteristics
Cut out the cards and then sort them into piles to identify which key characteristic of living organisms
they are examples of.
Note that some examples may match more than one characteristic, so try to identify all characteristics
matched by each example.
1.
2.
The leaves of some plants track
the Sun’s movement across the
sky during the day.
At night, a plant gives out carbon Humans produce urine every
dioxide.
day, which contains waste
products from the body as well
as any water that the body
doesn’t need.
4.
5.
6.
The air that you breathe out of
your lungs contains more carbon
dioxide than the air that you
breathed in.
Humans give birth to live babies,
but birds and reptiles lay eggs
from which the young hatch.
During the first year of life a
human baby may triple its birth
weight.
7.
8.
9.
A Mimosa plant responds to
touch by wilting.
A student runs a 400m race.
The green colouring of plant
leaves is chlorophyll, which
plants use to make glucose and
starch.
10.
11.
12.
A healthy diet includes a good
balance of protein, fruit and
vegetables.
Flowering plants produce seeds
that can be grown to produce
new plants.
If you receive a shock, your
heart usually starts to beat
more quickly.
13.
14.
15.
Trees add another ring of wood
around their trunks each year.
A houseplant on a windowsill
grows towards the light.
A bacterium in ideal conditions
can divide into two every
20 minutes.
Cambridge IGCSE® Co-ordinated Sciences Teacher Guide
3.
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